Laid off three times in a career she didn’t even like. Twelve (now thirteen) failed relationships. Her best friend moving on with a great job and a loving boyfriend. Her brother having twins. Even her sister, engaged again. And here was Reena. Always in the background. There for her friends when they wanted a good time. Cooking dinner for the whole building. Even there for her sister, despite her sister treating her like crap until, well, today. Reena was the nice girl. The go-to girl. The doormat girl?

What did Nadim see? The fun girlfriend always up for a romp in bed? The one who made dinner every night and didn’t make you dig too deep? The one easy to fool. Fake some interest in her cooking and give her some parasitic bugs and she’s yours—long enough to cozy up to her powerful father.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew the loud blare of her phone woke her. Barely conscious, she grabbed it and glanced at the name on the screen. Abigail.

“Good morning, Reena! I hope you had a fantastic weekend! How are you?”

Of course, Abigail and her unwavering chirpiness would throw boiling water on the burns already stinging her.

“Fine, thank you, Abigail.”

“It’s a beautiful day. I hope you’ll take some time to enjoy it. I have somewhat of a good news–bad news situation for you this morning. I finally heard from Angie at Top Crust. Unfortunately, they went with another applicant. You made a fantastic impression with the president, but ultimately, they chose a candidate who had several years more experience in the field. But here’s the amazing news, I got a bite on your résumé from Cadbury Chocolates! Wouldn’t that be a spectacular place to work? I’ll be speaking to the recruiter later to set up the interview time. Isn’t this fabulous?”

Reena blinked, wondering if Abigail used a thesaurus to get all those synonyms for great. Of course Top Crust went with another applicant. She closed her eyes, feeling them well up again. There was no way Mum would let her friend Leon hire her daughter. Not if she wanted to keep her poker habit a secret. Goddamn family. Was she too old to emancipate from them?

“Thanks. Yeah, that sounds great,” Reena managed to say.

“Are you all right?”

She fell back, letting her down pillow cradle her pounding head. “Yes, just a headache today.”

“Okay. Take it easy then. I’ll call you when I hear from Cadbury. Keep your chin up, Reena. We’ll get there.”

Reena disconnected the call and noticed three texts from Nadim, asking to talk to her. She deleted them and tossed her phone back on the nightstand.

She stayed in her apartment for the rest of the day. Mostly in bed, where she got through most of Saira’s Bollywood watch list on her laptop. Drinking chai and watching beautiful women in ornate saris sing and cry into ponds or waterfalls helped. Well, maybe not helped so much as distracted, which felt like a victory right now.